City Council decides to continue Jefferson City conference center location debate

Jefferson City’s City Council voted Monday night to move both conference center proposals forward.

Councilmembers are deciding between the Farmer Holding Company’s Capital Mall proposal and the Ehrhardt Group’s downtown proposal.

Monday night, the council voted 6-4 to move both proposals forward. Therefore the approval process will continue to the development stage.

Several downtown business owners and employees support the Ehrhardt proposal because the conference center would be one block away from the Capitol, the main reason for visitors to Jefferson City.

The Farmer Group’s mall proposal has already received an endorsement from Mayor Eric Struemph.

He told ABC 17 News on Thursday he believes the mall location is the only financially-viable option where the city will not have to fund the center.